title: Mood symptoms and emotional responsiveness to threat in school-aged children.
abstract: Clinical accounts of depression underscore its relation to negative emotional experiences; yet few empirical studies examine emotional experiences in adults with depression, with even less work on depression and emotion in children. Using a nonclinical sample of school-aged children (n = 89) ages 8 to 12, this study evaluated whether greater mood symptoms were associated with more or less intense emotional reactions (measured via psychophysiology, subjective report, and behavior) in response to a threat paradigm. Results indicated that greater negative mood symptoms were associated with larger startle magnitude responses during threat, increased self-reports of negative emotion, and greater likelihood of crying and stopping the paradigm prematurely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. Jessica.borelli@pomona.edu
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Borelli
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sbarra
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Crowley
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Mayes
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004576:Electromyography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires